In an essay in 1984 — at the dawn of the personal computer era — the novelist Thomas Pynchon wondered if it was "O.K. to be a Luddite," meaning someone who opposes technological progress. A better question today is whether it's even possible. Technology is everywhere, and a recent headline at an Internet hu-mor site perfectly captured how difficult it is to resist: "Luddite invents machine to destroy technology quicker."

 

Like all good satire, the mock headline comes perilously close to the truth. Modern Luddites do indeed invent "machines" — in the form of computer viruses, cyberworms and other malware — to disrupt the technologies that trouble them. (Recent targets of suspected sabotage include the London Stock Exchange and a nuclear power plant in Iran.) Even off-the-grid extremists find technology irresistible. The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, attacked what he called the "industrial- technological system" with increasingly sophisticated mail bombs. Likewise, the cave-dwelling terrorist sometimes derided as "Osama bin Luddite" hijacked aviation technology to bring down skyscrapers.

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